Kamen Rider 00 - 00rigins
by DiscontentCat
Summary: Even heroes need to talk out their problems. Such is the case for Erika Mori, the Kamen Rider of Jinsoku. In order to tackle the mental demons of today, she returns to the memories of yesterday. Recounting every hard-fought battle, uplifting victory and heartbreaking loss she's ever experienced.
1. Part 1: Memories Forgotten And Discarded

**This story serves as both a retelling/recap of the Kamen Rider Zero series as well as a light retcon of certain details and plot points. It isn't necessary to have read through the entirety of the original series in order to fully understand. This also serves as a way to officially close the book on a long-unfinished series, touching on plotpoints that were never originally reached. For anyone that's stuck around long enough to have seen the series from its beginning, I thank you. **

**Obligatory Disclaimer: ****_This story is a fan-based fiction based on the Kamen Rider franchise created by Shotaro Ishinomori and owned by the Toei Company. Please don't sue the furry._**

* * *

_Scribble, scribble, scribble_

_Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak_

These were the only sounds that filled the room as a collie dressed in formal attire worked at her desk. She constantly went back and forth between the papers set in front of her and the laptop set off to the side. Her next patient was set to come in at any second, and she wanted to be ready. She fixed her glasses for only the briefest of moments before her paws went _right _back to work. She wasn't willing to spend even a _second _of wasted time. If she was going to be working with _her_, then she wasn't going to mess around.

After all, it wasn't every day she got to be the psychiatrist of an actual superhero.

Her ears perked as she heard a soft knock at the door. "Come in," she called as she set down her pen and took her eyes away from her work. Moments later, the door to her office opened, and hesitant, spotted feline peeked in. A warm smile spread across the collie's muzzle. "Erika Mori, I presume?"

"You'd be right," Erika replied with a less enthusiastic smile as she stepped inside, "and I hope you're Dr. Aurora, otherwise I stumbled into the wrong office."

"Well lucky for you, I _am_." Dr. Aurora motioned to one of the chairs in front of her desk. "Come. Take a seat and we'll talk." Erika obliged and trotted over, easing out a nervous sigh as she sat. "_So _then, how are we today?"

"Good...good…" Erika nodded, "I've finally been able to get some down time for myself. I can't remember the last time _that _ever happened."

"I'd _imagine_. Having your work schedule depend mostly on the whims of black-market salesmen wouldn't leave very many sick days for you, no doubt."

"Oh don't even get me _started _on that. I practically _live _on base now. On the few days I actually get to go back to my place, I feel like I'm visiting long-lost _family_. Like, I'm talking 'I can't even remember where the _bathroom _is' kind of bad."

"_Wow_…"

"I _know_!" Erika huffed and sat back, her tail flicking back and forth through the opening of her armrest. Dr. Aurora's eyes lingered on the twitching limb for a brief moment before they returned to the actual feline it was attached to.

"So then," she began, "now that we've gotten the pleasantries out of the way, I believe it's time that we got to the reason you've come to my office in the first place."

A sigh of disappointment left Erika's throat. "Can't we like...stick with the introductions for a little while longer?"

"I'm afraid not, Erika. As much as I'd like to set aside the entire day for you, my time is limited."

Another sigh. "...Alright… I guess there's no point in putting it off anyways."

"Mmm," the collie nodded thoughtfully and picked up a pen and clipboard, "So then, why _are _we here today?"

"That's a pretty deep and philosophical question you just posed to me, Doc. I don't know if I can just answer that right off the bat."

"Come on, now, you know what I mean."

A longer sigh this time. "...It's...it's my friend… He hasn't been doing too well, and it's only gotten worse lately."

Dr. Aurora slid some papers closer to her. "Arata Sakurai, correct?" Erika nodded. "Panther. Currently hospital-ridden and being kept on life support under Amnesia's care. Reason being...ALS…"

"So..._not a fun time_...in summary," Erika's eyes trailed off to the side.

"Quite. So tell me, seeing your friend as he is, it bothers you quite a lot, doesn't it?"

"I'd be very concerned if it _didn't _bother me."

"Mmm. Can you tell me _why _though?"

Erika blinked once, then shot her a perplexed look. "Be...cause he's my _friend? _And I care for him a _lot_?"

"Right, but, does the concern go any _deeper_? Maybe the concern is out of _guilt_? Like, perhaps you somehow feel _responsible_ for his condition?" Erika became strikingly silent in that instance. She bit down on her lower lip, her eyes darted to the side, and her entire body went rigid. "...Am I...on the right track, perhaps?"

A **long **sigh this time. "More like hit the nail on the head…"

"Mmmm," the collie nodded her head thoughtfully, sliding some of her notes aside, "Let's start there, then. Though, maybe you'd prefer to be more comfortable for this." Dr. Aurora stood up and picked up her pen before motioning towards a nearby chaise lounge. "Shall we?"

The snow leopard glanced at the furniture piece before standing up. "So they _aren't _just myths. Psychiatrists really _do _use these things."

"Well, _I _do, anyways." Dr. Aurora only earned a chuff from the feline. "Come on now, might as well get comfy, right?"

"I can't argue with _that_…" Erika's tail swished and swayed as she sauntered over to the chaise lounge and plopped herself onto it. The collie took a nearby seat as she settled in.

"Now then," she began, clicking her pen open, "why don't we start from the beginning?"

It took a while for Erika to work up the nerve to speak again. "Well...it all started...with a Dopant attack…"

**Kamen Rider 00**

**Memories **_**F**_**orgotten **_**A**_**nd **_**D**_**iscarded**

**By DiscontentCat**

There'd been three that day. The area was already in lockdown, but...I wasn't exactly intent on sitting around. When Amnesia's troopers were starting to fall, I knew I had to act. This was during the time I was working on my own Memories, and this felt like more than an appropriate time to step in and try it out. _Unfortunately_, I acted at _just _the wrong time. Not even two minutes after I ran out did the Dopants spot me. I managed to get away, but not completely unscathed… Whether it was luck or misfortune that Arata followed me is something I'm still trying to decide…

"You're gonna be alright," he'd told me after he'd finished bandaging my leg, "We're gonna make it through this…" He was so concerned for me. It was like he was forgetting that he was in the same situation I was in. Those Dopants were still out there wreaking havoc, and it was only a matter of time before they hunted us down. With me injured, I only had one option left…

"Arata...I'm going to ask you to do something that could change the course of our lives from here on out…" If only I'd known how true that would be when I'd said that...because this was where it all started. I gave him the Memory and Lost Driver I'd been working on, and he became Kamen Rider Zero. He managed to fend the Dopants off, but...because of the way I designed it, the Memory was bonded to Arata permanently. That meant, even after I'd recover, he'd be the one and only fur that could use it. I'd forced him into a role that he wasn't prepared for...but he didn't seem bothered by it at the time…

"It's _incredible_!" he told me when he visited me in my hospital room one day, "Whenever I transform, I feel strong enough to do _anything_!"

"Okay _now _you're just rubbing it in my face. That could've been _me _out there, y'know?"

"Well...I mean-"

"Don't even go there," I cut him off when I caught him glancing at my leg. "Seriously though, I'm...I'm glad you're enjoying this. You have no idea how much this has been bothering me."

"Hey, don't sweat it. You let me become an actual superhero. How bad could that be?"

"Oh I dunno… Maybe it's the fact that you're constantly in danger and the cops are after you now?" Arata just waved that off. That...should've bothered me more than it did, now that I think about it… "Alright, whatever, just..._promise _me that you won't end up..._arrested _or something."

"Come on, Erika, don't you have faith in me? I'll be fine."

But of _course_...several days into it…

"I CAN'T believe you got arrested!"

"Look I'm _sorry_!" he said as he was rubbing his face from the slap I'd given him, "But I can't exactly resist arrest _unconscious_!" I...might've given him another good slap after that…But...as it turned out, him getting arrested was for the best. He and I ended up joining Amnesia, and that meant he didn't have to run out there and risk his life _alone_ anymore. That was our life for a good couple of days; him and the troopers running out to fight Dopants while I stayed at the sidelines and hoped for his safety. If it wasn't already obvious...I wasn't entirely okay with that.

Of _course _I didn't just want to leave everything to him. I was supposed to be the one risking my life in the first place. I needed to set things right. So while he was out there in the field, I got to work on _another _Memory, this one stronger than my last. I guess I ended up going a little too far… While I ended up making both a unique Driver along with a two-sided Memory, using them came with...an unexpected side effect.

Apparently, one of the sides came with a consciousness of its own. "The Valkyrie," as we called her, took over my body and used it to hunt down and defeat any foe she deemed worthy of combat. That _included _Arata… She was merciless, ruthless, cold-blooded even. Arata didn't stand a chance, and the entire time, I was forced to watch my friend get nearly beaten to death. She probably would've killed him then and there had she not exhausted my Memory.

But the rampage didn't end there. As soon as she was able to, she sought out the next fight, and that fight came in the form of two Dopants. They'd been sent _specifically _to take her down, but even they weren't enough. They put up a fight, but the Valkyrie was still too much for them. One by one, they fell, and one of them...just couldn't get away in time…

I'd never killed anyone before. I'd never _planned _on killing anyone before. Everyone's been telling me I _still _haven't killed anyone… But...being there...having full sensory awareness of my body...and feeling my arms swing down to deal the finishing blow...and watching them fall down and not get back up...makes believing in those words...difficult…

It was hard for me to believe that things could get any worse, but...when I saw Arata walk out onto that street, then I knew I was at my lowest point. Time and time again, I'd hated myself for throwing my best friend into the line of fire. Every time I saw him beaten and bruised atop a hospital bed, I knew that I only had myself to blame. And to see him once again put himself in harm's way for my sake...was probably the most fitting punishment I could have ever received.

But then...then Arata started talking to me. He called out to me, assuring me that everything would be fine. I don't think I'll ever forget what he said to me that day… "Erika?" he'd called, "I don't know if you can hear me, but…just in case you can…there was something I never got to tell you about…before all of this happened… I found my transformation phrase." I felt myself choke up as I saw tears start to stream down his eyes... "I was going to share it with you, but with how things have been going recently…I never got to… So I guess now would be a better time than ever…" With the Memory I'd given him clenched tightly in his paw, he activated the Driver and shouted out in the most triumphant roar I'd ever heard him let out, "...HENSHIN!"

You can probably guess why I still use that to this day…

He'd nearly died in the process, but he managed to outsmart the Valkyrie. He waited until she drained all of the Memory's power again and knocked her out, finally freeing me from her influence. But...I was never the same after that… That was the third time my actions had put him in danger, and this time...this time I'd gotten others involved as well… I was...really messed up after all of that, and for a long time, I didn't show my face around in public.

It couldn't have possibly been at a worse time than that.

The Earth's Tree, the company responsible for the black market of Dopant Memories, enlisted the help of the terrorist group that had been responsible for the first ever Dopant attack on the world. The Earth's Tree sent them back into our city, and what resulted was utter chaos. There were just _too many _Dopants to handle, even with Arata and Amnesia's full team. Everyone was completely overwhelmed, and furs were constantly being captured and held against their will. It just got worse and worse as troopers fell, and all the while...I just hid… I hid like a coward. And to make matters even worse…

Arata gasped when he saw their leader pull out a Driver. Seeing that he had taken notice of it, the coyote smirked. "Oh you noticed this, huh? Yeah, it wasn't easy to get it off of your friend. These things are hard to crack open, so we only managed to get our hands on _one _of these things."

"What do you mean?! You took it from them?!" Arata snarled.

"Yes _indeed_, and I'm glad we got it when we did, cuz' now I get to test it out for myself. And what better way to test it out than on the battlefield, against the one and only Kamen Rider Zero?" He pulled out a sleek black Memory from his pocket and clicked the button at the front.

CRUSADE!

The coyote waved it around a bit before tossing it into the Driver. He rolled his neck and shoulders before resting his paw on top of the Driver. "Henshin."

CRUSADE!

A deep purple aura pulsated out of the Driver as the coyote's body was covered in sleek, black, segmented armor. The armor progressed upwards before finally enveloping his head, shrinking his snout down and forming a sharp face plate over it. The coyote rolled his neck again and sighed in satisfaction, flexing his arms and fingers. "This feels _great_. No _wonder _you jump at the opportunity to transform whenever you can." He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. "You know what? I think I wanna be a Kamen Rider too." Arata growled harshly, clenching his paws into tight fists. "Yeah, and I know the perfect name too. Kamen Rider…Crusade."

I knew I could help. I knew I had the power to help...but I was afraid… I was afraid of the sins I'd made, and of the damage I'd dealt. Everything I'd done thus far had led to more pain and suffering, and all at Arata's expense. I was convinced that if I just stayed back and let the rest of the world handle itself, things would work out in the end…

I have never been more wrong in my life than I had been in that exact moment.

With no one else left to back him up, Arata was left to fight the entire army on his own. Even with as far as he got, there was no way he could handle such overwhelming numbers. They eventually cornered him and were about to take him in, when Arata...Arata… He did the unthinkable.

"Kid…" said Crusade carefully, "You're making this more difficult on yourself than this needs to be. Just give in already and—"

"NO!" Arata cut him off, his paws trembling and tightly clenched, "I'm NOT letting you win! I-I won't let you put everyone through another day like Day Zero!" Crusade hissed in frustration.

"You've got nothing LEFT KID!" he shouted, "What else could you do that could pose a threat to us?!"

Arata paused, slowly raising one of his clenched paws. "…This." He roared out and raised his clenched paw up, revealing his Memory. He gripped it in both paws before driving it downwards into his forehead, screaming in pain as the Memory slowly sunk into his head. Everyone shouted and screamed in horror as they watched this terrifying spectacle, with Crusade and his Dopants merely watching in disbelief.

Arata screamed and screamed as the Memory sunk deeper. Suddenly, it shot the rest of the way in, and the panther staggered backwards, eventually falling onto his back. He writhed in pain and gripped his head tightly.

Large, razor sharp ice shards shot up from the ground around Arata's feet as he was rapidly encased within a thick dome of ice, muffling his painful cries. The wind around them began to howl and turn chilly, swirling around the icy dome as it sealed completely. Suddenly, the dome jerked, bulging sporadically as though something inside was ready to burst out. Another bulge, and a crack slithered down the dome. The sounds of screams escaped it, but the screams were no longer of pain. They were of rage, they were of fury, they were of pure hatred. A loud thud rang from within the dome, and it shuddered as cracks appeared all over it. The screams grew louder, and the thuds and shudders became more frequent. The ground began to tremor, and the screaming grew in intensity.

Suddenly, a loud bang sounded out, and the dome was blown into pieces. Huge ice stalagmites shot out of the ground as a hulking monstrosity threw its head to the sky and let out an earth-tremoring roart. I stared back in horror at what had taken Arata's place. It was a twisted image of what Zero had been. Its entire body shook as it continued to scream out its primal roar into the sky, drowning out the howling winds that stung the skin of the onlookers with frigid levels of cold. Arata was no longer in control. Arata was no longer Zero.

Arata was a Dopant.

I didn't know it at the time, but that's what changed everything. I wouldn't know what he'd just done to his body until it was far too late… But what was clear at the time was that, whatever Arata had become was _strong_. It nearly managed to overpower Crusade's entire army. But the numbers got to him, and eventually he fell to them. And seeing _this_, seeing Arata's unconscious body get dragged away...struck something in me. It lit a fire in me that I wasn't quite ready to handle.

I knew now was my time to act, but I was still scared. Everything I'd done up to this point had only led to catastrophe. Even so, I'd already grown tired of sitting around and doing nothing, especially after I'd seen what _that _had led to. So I got off my ass, put on my Driver, and threw myself into the fray.

Apparently, I still hadn't been ready. I hesitated, faltered, and tripped up. For a moment, I'd thought I'd made my last, horrible mistake. That's when the Valkyrie decided to speak up.

_I've been observing your behavior for quite some time now, _the Valkyrie said to me, _and your hesitation in fighting confuses me._

This caught me off guard. _You've been…watching me?!_

_Ever since you took back control over your own body, yes_, _and though there are slew of other questions I wish to ask you, the one that I first proposed piques my interest. So do tell me, why is it that you fear death?_

I had to stop when one of the Dopants grabbed my foot, throwing me into a crowd of others. When I finally gathered myself, I said to her, _I don't wanna die yet!_

_But why not? If you die in battle, that is a sure passage into the Halls of Valhalla. _That somehow got to me...

_Because there are still things I want to do in this life! I want to make up for the things I've done! I want to see my friends live, happy, _normal _lives! And I want to see a world where no one lives under the oppression of fear!_

_You've given me goals, _she replied, _but not reasons. What's more, I feel the fear in your heart. Why? What is it that you have to fear? _I wasn't sure how to answer her. _Those who die in battle fleeing from their enemies aren't allowed passage into the Halls. Tell me, do you wish to fight?_

_I do!_

_And you wish to see all of your goals come into fruition, yes?_

_Yes!_

_Then you should stop fearing death and FIGHT! Prove to the Gods that you are courageous! Show them how a great warrior fights a glorious battle!_

I wasn't sure of what she was trying to do, but I knew what she was saying wasn't wrong. I _did _want to see my goals accomplished, and to do that, I'd have to fight. So I said to her, with my _actual _voice, "Fine then! I'll fight! And I'll fight as a Kamen Rider! As Kamen Rider VALKYRIE!"

And so I did. I fought until my body felt like it couldn't take it, then I fought harder. I didn't stop until I'd finally rescued Arata. Of course, Crusade didn't take too kindly to that. We didn't get very far once he learned of our escape and surrounded us with his army. With the entire city watching, Crusade went on about how all hope was finally lost. He had its last defenders in his grasp, and it'd only be a matter of time till we fell too.

But, even with such a huge army completely surrounding us and sealing off all hope for escape, Arata and I weren't ready to lose hope. Not by a long-shot.

That's why we didn't even flinch when the army came at us.

"ARATA!" I shouted at Arata as I tossed him his Memory. The second it was in his paws, he tossed it into his Driver. Meanwhile, I did the same and battered my way through the crowd to stand side by his side. Then, for the first of many times to come after, the two of us shouted out in one unified cry,

"HENSHIN!"

A wild blizzard erupted outwards and swallowed up the entire block. The strength of the winds knocked several Dopants right off of their feet and prevented them from getting back up. The ones that still stood were blinded as a bright light flared to life in the middle of the freak snowstorm.

FREEZE!

ASCEND!

Then, with a loud and thunderous clap, the blizzard was cast away from the block. With it gone, the snow was able to fall away to reveal the two Riders standing side by side. As Arata's cloak fluttered in the wind, I spread my wings out behind me and illuminated the area with a brilliant light. As the fallen Dopants pulled themselves back up to their feet, they stared with awe at the spectacle. Before them stood the last remaining guardians of the city, the last line of defense against them.

The Kamen Riders.

On our own, Crusade's army could take us on. But the two of us together? They were no match. We made quick work of them, and eventually forced Crusade to jump in and intervene. But even _he _could barely handle us. He ended up drawing Arata away before I could stop him, so I didn't see what happened. But Arata told me later that, when he was ambushed, someone jumped in out of nowhere and intervened. He didn't get a good look at him, but apparently he was some kind of Kamen Rider as well. Definitely not one either of us had seen before. He fought more like a rabid animal than anything, but it seemed to be doing wonders against Crusade's army.

With them occupied, Arata was able to reach Crusade and face him one on one. That's when we discovered something. When Arata turned himself into a Dopant, he ended up becoming completely synchronized with his Memory. That paved the way for him to access a new, stronger form of Zero. And once I managed to fight my way through the rest of the army, Crusade was done for. He couldn't take on two Kamen Riders at once, let alone one that had _just _grown even stronger than before. That's when Arata and I took down our first supervillain together, as a team. As partners... As Kamen Riders...

* * *

"...You know...I just realized...a lot of things started with Crusade's attack… Arata and I started working together...we started protecting each other more...Arata...threatened his own life more..." Erika fell silent as her throat suddenly closed up on her. As soon as she noticed this, Dr. Aurora set down her pen.

"Perhaps we should take a brief pause," she suggested, "you look like you could use a break." Erika opened her muzzle to reply, only to find that she couldn't. Thus, she simply nodded and sat up from the chaise lounge. "By the way, I want you to know, you're doing a brave thing, recalling these memories. I know this hasn't been easy on you." An amused chuff escaped Erika's throat.

"My daily life hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, lately… What's a few buried memories gonna add to the mix, right?"

"I'm serious, Erika. These are important steps to take, and by taking them, you're working towards recovery."

"It...feels like a lot of work already, doc…"

"It certainly _is _a lot of work, Erika… But by the end of it all, I think you'll find that all of that work will pay off in the end, and for the better."

The snow leopard smirked at her and raised her paw. "Fingers crossed."

Dr. Aurora smiled back at her. "Why don't you head outside for a bit? Walk around, clear your thoughts. I'll be here when you need me." Erika decided to oblige and, with a polite bow, excused herself out of the room. As she left, the collie returned to her desk and sifted through some of her notes. Her suspicions were quickly confirmed; the memories that were to come next would no doubt be the hardest of them all. For a moment, Dr. Aurora regretted having to do this, but she'd taken this profession for a _reason_. There would always be ugly parts, and this would probably be the ugliest of them all. But it was up to her to make sure they got through it in one piece.

Deep inside, she hoped she'd be _able _to...


	2. Part 2: Held Allegiances

This time, it was _Erika's _ears that perked as a knock was heard. She turned away from the balcony and saw Dr. Aurora waiting at the door. "Erika?" she called to the snow leopard, "It's time to bring it back in."

"Oh, alright," she nodded before lowering her head, "Gotta go. Sleep well, Arata…" With that, she yanked off a device from her waist, causing a silvery belt to snake up inside of it. Erika pocketed it in her vest as she followed the collie back into her office. Soon enough, the pair found themselves back in the positions they'd been in before the break. "You know, I'm really glad this thing is so soft," Erika said as she sank back into the chaise lounge, "I doubt I'd be willing to spill out my emotions sitting on a stiff, plastic chair or something."

"Definitely," Dr. Aurora nodded, "I try to eliminate as many distractions for my patients as possible, so giving them something comfy to sit on is something I made sure to do."

"It's definitely appreciated," Erika sighed as she hung her head back over a cushion.

"Anyways, how about we get ourselves back on track?"

"Mmhmm."

"So earlier, you were going over the reasons you felt responsible for your friend's..._unfortunate _situation. This led to you recounting the history between you two."

"Well, _part _of our history, but yeah."

"You went over when it all started as well as when things started to take a turn for the worst."

"And then I got all emotional and you called for a time out, yes."

"Erika…" Dr. Aurora tilted her head slightly, "there's no reason to feel ashamed over that. Listening to your emotions is what we're here to do."

"Yeah, yeah, opening up n' all that," the snow leopard sighed dismissively, "...I'm sorry, I just… This isn't easy for me."

"I doubt we'd be here if it was," Dr. Aurora quipped, earning a soft smirk from her patient, "Now, we've already gone over why you feel responsible, and the moments that warranted your feeling of responsibility. But I would like to point out that those moments were very much out of your control. They were products of those very specific situations. If anything, they were Arata's decisions. Are you convinced of this now that I've brought it up?"

"Not even a little bit," Erika shook her head, "Sure, Arata chose to do the things he did, but if it weren't for the things _I _had done, he wouldn't be in those situations in the first place."

"And yet, it was _other _people's' decisions that brought you to make _your _decisions."

"...I'm...sorry? I don't think I follow."

"You're arguing that your actions produced situations that prompted Arata to make decisions that led to his situation. Or, to simplify things, under your logic, Arata isn't responsible for his actions because _your _actions made him do them."

"Y...yeah, that sounds right."

The collie nodded. "Well, by that logic, responsibility can still be shifted further back. There are actions made by other people in your past that have done the same to _you_. Like...let's say...the black market dealers. Uh...what was their name?"

"The Earth's Tree. It's alright, I only said it once or twice."

"Mmm. Well, you could say that, if it weren't for them taking the action of selling Gaia Memories in the black market, you and Arata wouldn't have been put into the situations that led to your individual actions."

"Well…" Erika's ears flattened, "N-no, but, even if that's true, _I'm _the one that made the decisions I made."

"And _that's _what I'm trying to say. While I understand your reasoning for doing so, you shouldn't hold yourself accountable for the actions and decisions someone else takes. Of course, there are some cases where someone _should_ take responsibility, like say...lying to someone, but your situation is not one of these cases."

Now Erika was sitting up. "B...but Arata-"

"Arata _chose _to do what he did of his own accord. You didn't force him. You didn't coax him. In the case of him becoming a Rider for the sake of your safety, he could have easily quit after that first time. Instead, he _chose _to continue fighting for your sake. Not because he _had _to, but because he _wanted _to."

"...Well...maybe…" Erika muttered, "b-but I don't feel right in shifting the blame to him…"

"And that's normal. But keeping this blame on yourself isn't healthy, especially when it's undeserved."

Erika sank back into her seat. "...I guess…"

Dr. Aurora jotted down some notes before continuing. "I get the feeling that you're still not convinced. We'll take a different approach, then. Given what you've told me about him, would it be fair to say that he's reckless?"

Erika let out a chuff. "That would be putting it _lightly_. The guy practically throws himself into danger whenever he feels compelled to. Most of the time without even a second thought."

"So do you think that, if you hadn't been the one that allowed him to become a Kamen Rider, that recklessness wouldn't have led him into an equally dangerous situation?" Erika opened her muzzle to respond, only to realize that she had nothing to respond with. As she closed it back up, Dr. Aurora jotted down more notes. "We'll come back to this later. For now, I'd like to talk to you more about The Earth's Tree. According to my notes, they play a big part in the events following Crusade's attack. Could you tell me more about them?"

"Uh...r-right, right. Well, like I said, they're the ones responsible for the distribution of Dopant Memories."

"The devices that allow users to turn into monsters, correct?"

Erika nodded in response. "Well, during Crusade's attack, Arata learned that all of the Dopants that had come to our city, not just the ones Crusade was leading, were attacking us to promote the purchase of Dopant Memories. The way he summed it up was that all of the attacks were more or less an elaborate ad campaign. The Earth's Tree wanted to scare civilians into buying the very items that made the monsters they were hiding from. Literally the most aggressive marketing tactic imaginable.

"We never did see an actual deals ourselves, but every now and then, one of the major sellers, Daiki, would pop up to try and fight us off. To 'protect the merch,' so to speak. It tended to happen whenever we were clearly getting stronger. He and Crusade were really the only forms of insight on the company that we ever got."

Dr. Aurora furrowed a brow. "Wait, it...it says in my notes that there's one other person…"

Erika smirked. "And I was just about to get into that…"

**Kamen Rider 00**

_**H**_**eld **_**A**_**llegiances**

**By DiscontentCat**

It just felt like business as usual when another Dopant attack began. When we saw that the Dopants were chasing someone, we thought nothing of it. Just a civilian that failed to get inside during the lockdown, y'know? When the team and I got to her, though, we learned that she was part of The Earth's Tree. A traitor that had escaped. That's what we were led to believe, anyways; she had us fooled right from the start.

Mira was her name. The second I met her, she told me how to defeat the Dopants that were after her. Then, after she was rescued, she began spilling a bunch of secrets. She told us about all of the Memories that were in circulation at the time, as well as the weaknesses of the Dopants each Memory produced. She won a lot of us over pretty quickly because of that. I wouldn't learn about how she won the _rest _of us over until much later…

As it turned out, Mira was an expert hypnotist. Even though she primarily used a Memory to accomplish this, given the right circumstances, she could hypnotize someone all on her own. I never really thought about how much she enjoyed having one-on-one time with everyone at the base. I was...distracted by other things at the time… In our fights following Crusade's attack, Arata started having problems mid-battle. Every now and then, he'd collapse, completely unresponsive. He...he never…...

He found out that the reason he was collapsing was because he'd developed ALS. He'd developed it after using his Memory to become a Dopant. He never told me, though... Never. I didn't even...I didn't even find out through him, you know… He said...he said he wasn't telling me because...because he didn't want me to…

He didn't want me to worry. He thought it was pointless. But, SURPRISE surprise, that just made me _more _worried. Every time he'd collapse, I'd ask. Everytime I'd ask, he'd dismiss it. Every time he dismissed it, I got angrier at him. And all of that worrying and anger made me miss out on the clues that would've told me that Mira was bad news… One by one, she claimed her victims and cast her "spell" on them, all while working under the ruse that she was here to _help _us.

And then she got to Arata…

Apparently, Crusade had planted doubts in Arata. Learning that the Dopant attacks were nothing but ad campaigns made him wonder if there was really anything worth fighting against. Crusade made him believe that no civilians were ever meant to be harmed. Anyone that _did _get harmed would be due to an accident. As stupid as it was...it worked on Arata, and Mira took full advantage of that.

With him doubtful over which side to take, and him knowing that his time was...limited, Mira got him to switch sides and fight _against _us. He never tried to harm us, but he definitely kept us on our toes. ALS or none, he still had his powered up form. And of course, with him keeping us busy, Mira was free to run amok and claim even more victims. All the while, she was working towards her ultimate goal.

Thankfully, Arata didn't stay on the other side for long. I eventually managed to knock some sense into him, both metaphorically _and _literally. I'll never be thankful over him having ALS, but...it...it definitely played a role in helping to convince him to come back with us… Of course, he was kept on a short leash after that, but a lot of us were happy to have him back. He wasn't exactly favored by the public eye, but not many of us cared. _I _definitely didn't.

I have to give credit to Mira on what she did next though. As much as I despise her...she pulled off a ballsy move. She purposefully made us doubt her by giving the team's troops Memories that ended up working _against _them. Though it made them stronger, they left them vulnerable to one of The Earth's Tree's Dopants. It was one that she was "unfamiliar with." This one seemed to take inspiration from Arata's most recent event and turned our troops against us. Granted it was more _physical _than mental, the general idea was still there.

Mira played it off really well. She didn't overreact or _under_react. Well, it was either that, or the mass hypnosis she had over most of us. I probably would've been more suspicious of her if I wasn't so distracted with Arata… Either way, she managed to make herself not the _only _one kept under suspicion. Arata was even put under suspicion at one point.

But then she slipped up.

With me being one of the ones she hadn't hypnotized yet, she decided to have some one-on-one time with me. Of course, with the whole failed upgrade thing still happening, I was still wary around her. But she managed to make me drop my guard by bringing up Arata and his...condition. She said she had insight on what could be wrong with him (as I still had yet to learn what was going on). Of course, I was interested to know, so I followed her along into her little trap.

I only turned my back on her for a _second_. Apparently that was all she needed, because the next time I saw her, she was in her Dopant form. I didn't have enough time to react; all it took was her raising her hand to put me to sleep. Under any other circumstance, she would've won then and there. I was knocked out cold with no way to defend myself from her hypnosis. But as it turned out, having a little voice inside your head has its perks.

The Valkyrie, who'd only been speaking to me in my head whenever I transformed, took over my body again and stopped Mira before she could go any further. She drove her out of the base, but not before she took advantage of all the little hypnotic seeds she'd planted on everyone else to get away. With the team fighting its own members for the third time, Mira was able to slip away without a scratch.

Things weren't looking up for us after that. The public was still hammering down on Arata, Amnesia's credibility was severely shot, and The Earth's Tree was beginning to look like a force to be reckoned with. On top of that, no one was sure who was and wasn't affected by Mira's hypnosis, a majority was benched due to injuries, Arata wasn't getting any better, and he was _still _keeping me in the dark over his condition. Everyone was in an odd spot to say the least.

We didn't even have time to sort any of that out, though, because the _very next day, _we received an urgent call. Mira and Daiki, the Memory salesman, had broken into Amnesia's factory and were causing havoc. Most of the team wasn't in the condition to fight (the Valkyrie hadn't exactly gone easy on them), and no one was sure who else was under Mira's "spell." We couldn't just ignore the call though; _someone _had to go out there. Obviously I was going, but for _some reason_, the team decided to send Arata with me.

Arata the one who'd _clearly _been hypnotized by Mira, the one who was _collapsing mid-battle_, and the one who was the _least qualified _out of _everyone _to be going out to fight, was the person they wanted to send with me. I didn't understand why he wasn't the one to stay behind and guard the base instead of our few good troops, but it was clear to them that the factory was important, and they needed their strongest members to go out and protect it.

That was a sign I probably should've picked up on, in retrospect…

I can't blame myself too much for missing that though; I already had enough on my mind as I was. When we got there, to our surprise, Mira wasn't the one who greeted us. Daiki was the one trying to fend us off. Granted, he was still keeping us on our toes the entire time, he wasn't exactly catching us off guard with anything new. We'd fought him plenty of times before, so we knew how to deal with him. And even though Arata himself wasn't in the best shape in the world, he'd still grown much stronger.

By the time we got past him, Mira was already really far into the factory. It was then that we learned why Daiki had been our obstacle instead of her. Because we were aware of her powers, her hypnosis had no effect on us. Her Dopant form still put up a good fight though, and a long enough one that allowed Daiki to catch back up with us. We still managed to hold our own against the two of them, at least, until Arata collapsed.

I held them off for as long as I could on my own, but even with the Valkyrie's help, I couldn't handle them both on my own. Both Arata and I were taken down, but thankfully not out. Because of that, we were able to learn why Mira had come here in the first place. We hadn't noticed it before, but Mira had left most of the factory machines in tact. She'd only destroyed the ones that were in her immediate way. She didn't have any intention of destroying the place; she'd come here for information. She wanted to know where the raw materials for this place came from.

And that information would shock all of us.

The suppliers of Amnesia's Memories weren't from some obscure company or organization that none of us had ever heard about. It was from a company _all _of us were intimately familiar with. One that none of us were expecting.

The Earth's Tree.

Something clicked into place then. All of Amnesia's troopers used blank Memories to transform. As it turned out, these Memories were hollow husks of existing Memories, repurposed to better serve the troops. In most of our battles with Dopants, we very rarely destroyed their Memories by the end. Those Memories were always collected by Amnesia, and we'd always thought it was just for "safekeeping." Apparently we were wrong…

Our world was turned upside down as we realized that The Earth's Tree's "ad campaign" was more elaborate than any of us had realized. Arata and I weren't fighting _against _it; we were all _part _of it. None of us were doing what we thought we were. We were all just playing parts, with Arata and I as the "protectors of the city" and Mira and Daikia as "the salesmen." Amnesia wasn't a special ops group dedicated to defending against Dopants; it was a ruse set up by The Earth's Tree to give the city's occupants a security blanket, and one that they could yank away at any time to make them desperate enough to buy Memories.

We were just cogs in a machine, actors in a play. We weren't changing the world; we were keeping it as it was. Realizing this left most of us distraught, but Mira wasn't among us. If anything, this only seemed to fuel her on further. She'd come here for a goal, and now she was more intent than ever to reach it. The rest of us just seemed to return to our default roles then, purely out of instinct. Daiki continued to hold us off while Mira searched deeper for what she was looking for.

And, when she got what she needed...she abandoned Daiki. In the pursuit of her own goals, she betrayed her partner in crime, as well as her one and only brother. We were able to take him down after she got away, but neither of us felt good about it. We weren't sure if there was even a point to fighting anymore. We could try and expose Amnesia, but with how big the organization was, odds were that they'd cover it all up again. We could turn Daiki in, but if Amnesia was just another part of The Earth's Tree, what would that even accomplish?

Both of us just wanted to throw in the towel then and there. We'd already been through so much, and we didn't want to waste any more time and effort on this..._performance_. All we wanted to do then was drop everything and leave this life far behind us. We probably would have too...if Daiki hadn't decided to tell us what Mira was up to.

While her infiltration of Amnesia had primarily been to please their Headmaster, Mira had plans of her own. The entire time she'd been with us, she'd been searching through Amnesia's database for the location of a certain Memory. The Amnesia factory was the one that prepared and shipped the troops' blank Memories, but this factory wasn't where the Memories _came _from. Before they were blank, they had to _become _blank, and according to Mira's research, there existed a Memory that did just that. A Memory that drained the abilities of another Memory and kept it as its own. A Memory so powerful that it was never meant to be used by one person alone. And what else could that Memory's name be…

...but Amnesia?

Mira had already set her eyes on taking over The Earth's Tree, but after learning that she'd been wrapped up in one big, secret conspiracy, her eyes were now set on taking over the world itself. And with a Memory as powerful as Amnesia, there'd be nothing that could stop her. I won't lie; I was tempted to just let it happen. The world had already screwed us over, _especially _Arata. But he...he stayed true to himself. He wasn't willing to just...sit by and watch. For the first time in a long time, he was the one that talked sense into _me_.

So, the two of us went after Mira. Alone. We couldn't trust Amnesia anymore, so we didn't tell them. We didn't even tie Daiki up or anything because neither of us had the heart to do so (It wasn't like there was a point to doing so anyways). Once we found the place she'd been headed, there were armed guards ready for us. Whether they were hypnotized or simply treating us as traitors, we didn't know. We fought past them all the same. But then..._she _showed up.

"ARATA MOVE!" I shouted as the Valkyrie warned me of an incoming attack. I rushed over to him and tackled him to the ground just before a huge torrent of water came sailing over our heads. When it had finally passed and we got back up to our feet, _she _came in walking at a calm, almost leisurely pace. She was dragging a thick saber along behind her, and she was dressed in armor that looked strikingly similar to that of Amnesia's troopers. The key difference, two bright eyes glowing from beneath the purple dome on her helmet.

"Erika?" I heard Arata call, "...Is that…"

"...Yeah," I answered, already knowing what he was about to ask.

"So does that mean we…" He didn't finish, but I still knew what he was going to ask. It was pointless to answer him though...we both already knew we were too late.

"So then," said Mira, her voice clear as day, "even _after _learning the truth, the two of you _still _want to get in my way?" We didn't grace her with an answer, not a verbal one anyways. We both knew that we couldn't take any chances with her, not with what she had at her disposal. We went in to attack with the full intention of ending things here and now, but she outplayed us every step of the way. With _years _worth of Memories at her disposal, all of the abilities we'd previously faced one at a time were now being thrown at us all at once. Even with Arata at his strongest, the two of us were no match for her.

And then…

With Arata and I collapsed to our knees, Mira stood over the both of us and boasted. "As thankful as I am for this trial run, the two of you have already served your purposes…" She didn't even look at us as she plucked her Memory out of her Driver and plunged it into her saber.

**AMNESIA: MAXIMUM DRIVE!**

"Farewell…" The second I saw her go for Arata, I was back on my feet. I ran full speed at her, with the Valkyrie warning me over and over again how ready Mira was to strike me down. I barely listened to her. All I cared about in that moment was protecting Arata. I fought her off for as long as I could, but eventually...she got me. She used her new ability to rob the powers from my Memory, taking away my Rider form...and the Valkyrie…

Once Arata saw how much trouble I was in, he shot right back up and fought her off. Just like I had, he did the best he could against her. He was outplayed, outclassed, and out of his league. And when Arata collapsed again, it was all over. Mira took the powers of Arata's Memory away without a second thought, and with both of us powerless, she saw no reason to kill us then and there. She said it was her "gift of mercy," or whatever. Then, she just...left.

She'd gotten what she came for here. All she needed now was to go to the warehouse of stocked-up Dopant Memories were, and she'd be set for life. We could do nothing but lay there as Mira sauntered away. And not long after, we were arrested by Amnesia itself. I guess with our powers gone, we were useless to them, and they didn't want us to be spreading the word about them. And that would've been the end of our story, but Amnesia made the mistake of sending in troops that weren't in on the whole conspiracy.

Getting back to base, we'd been under the impression that _everyone _was in on it. But the only one that was aware of everything was the commanding officer and his second-in-command. They kept everyone else in the dark to make the facade feel as real as possible. Because of that, it was only a matter of time before the info slipped out of us. One thing led to another, and soon enough, the rest of the team turned their backs on Amnesia itself and freed us.

Even though we'd just taken care of one problem, we still had one more to take care of before we could celebrate. Mira was still on her way to the warehouse, and we couldn't exactly stop her without our powers. Luckily for us, our solution came from an unlikely source; Crusade. Amnesia had collected the Memories from him and his "crew" after the attack, and apparently several of them were still being held in the base. While I was glad that there was one for me, I was significantly _less _glad that there was also one for Arata.

After all we've been through, and after everything that's happened to him, he was STILL intent on ending this once and for all. At that point, I knew it was pointless to try and convince him otherwise. We were still low in numbers, and considering how poorly I'd done against her with my full powers, there was no chance I'd be able to take her all on my own with_out _my powers. And so, with what little resources we had left, we scraped together a small team and set out for...well...our last fight together...ever.

Things got dire the moment we arrived. She took down a majority of our back up not even two minutes after we'd gotten inside. The _only _reason all of us weren't struck down immediately was because she was going mad from the sheer multitude of powers that were coursing through her system. Her mind just couldn't take them all; they were making her degrade from a cold, calculated, manipulative snake into a more psychotic, deranged, power-drunk maniac. She wasn't totally gone yet, though, and she was still able to adequately control all of her new powers because of that.

One by one, the rest of the team fell, and eventually it just came back down to her, Arata and I. But unlike her, we couldn't master the new abilities we'd been given then and there. So it was only a matter of time before _those _powers were taken from us as well. She was clearly toying with us now, because she could've _easily _ended us then and there. Instead, she let us run off with our tails between our legs.

As we were hiding and trying to figure out what to do, I couldn't help but once again feel the urge to just...quit. We'd already done so much, and I was so tempted to just...let Mira go and destroy the very foundation this whole conspiracy was grounded on. Besides, why did it have to be _us_? Out of all the people in the world, _we _were the ones that had to be thrown into a role we never signed up for. We couldn't handle her before, and we _certainly _couldn't handle her now.

But then we realized...it _had _to be us.

We weren't under orders to come here...we hadn't been ordered to become heroes… We were here...because we _chose _to be here. We were the ones that chose to fight for the people, to _keep _fighting despite everything that had happened to us. Our title wasn't manufactured...it was given to us by the people. We weren't just soldiers in an army; we were genuine heroes. We were the protectors of the city. We were the rays of hope in the times of darkness.

We were the Kamen Riders.

Once we realized that, we knew we had to go back out there. So we picked ourselves up, grabbed the blank Memories our backup was using, and went forth.

"Are you ready?" Arata asked me as we strode down the walkway. Try as he might, he couldn't hide the fact that he was trembling. He was struggling just to walk, and I just couldn't ignore it.

But instead of address it then and there, I grit my teeth and replied, "...You're damn right I am." And with that, we stepped out into the open, with Arata taking my right, and I taking his left. Mira just laughed and spread her arms wide open when she saw us coming.

"Decided to accept your fate then?" she taunted, "Maybe when I'm through with you, you can serve as my footstools for the rest of your lives!"

Neither of us felt like humoring her; she and the rest of her organization had taken enough our time. We wanted to bring it to an end, and the two of us knew that it was going to be now or never. So, after giving each other one last glance, we faced forward, plugged our Memories in, and roared out in one unified cry…

"**HENSHIN!**"

With our armor donned, and our swords drawn, we rushed forward together ready to give her everything we had and _then _some.

**BULLET DRIVE!**

To challenge our charge, Mira sent a barrage of bullets our way. Even as they pelted and peppered us, we didn't slow down one bit.

**WATER DRIVE!**

But a huge torrent of water changed that. It stopped us in our tracks and nearly drove us off our feet. Instead of letting that happen, Arata drove his sword forward and got in front of me, dividing the stream and allowing us to cut through like a knife.

**EDGE DRIVE!**

Just before we could reach her, Mira cut off the stream and lunged at us, striking us all around with a flurry of slashes. Both of us were knocked backwards, but not before we landed several hits of our own on her.

**MAGMA DRIVE!**

She cackled like a deranged child as she sent a wave of magma right at us, creating the world's most dangerous game of "the floor is lava." We acted quickly and leapt up onto the railing set on either side of the walkway. We used each other for balance as we closed back in on her and landed some more solid hits.

**MUSCLE DRIVE!**

With a sudden swell of strength, she grabbed both of us and threw us backwards, nearly sending us right into the pool of magma she'd left behind. When I realized Arata's body wasn't letting him get back up, I rushed in without hesitation. My heart skipped a beat each time Mira swung with her saber, all too familiar with the strength she was towing. Instead of blocking or slashing, I ducked and weaved through all of her attacks before lunging forward and stabbing my sword against her chest armor.

**ASCEND DRIVE!**

Just when I felt like I'd been gaining the upper hand, Mira flipped the script on me and began weaving through all of _my _attacks. The change in fighting style was just so _sudden_. Before I knew it, I was knocked backwards and crashed into Arata, who'd managed to get back up. Then a blinding light flared to life right in front of us. Mira got free shots on us as we shielded our eyes, and I could do nothing about it.

"ERIKA! BACK TO BACK!" But apparently that's not what _Arata _thought. Once we found each other, he pressed our backs together and said, "Hey! You remember those old top toys we played with as kids?"

"Yeah?"

"How about we try it against _her_?" As stupid as it sounded, it was better than nothing. So following his lead, we rushed right up to Mira and slashed at her one after the other. The second one of us finished a slash, we'd tag the other in to do the same, spinning around each other again and again to deliver strike after strike and making her blinding light obsolete. When Arata couldn't maintain the loop and stumbled, I rolled off of his back to deliver an _extra strong wallop _on her. And with her staggered, the two of us lunged forward and struck her at once, knocking her over the railing and off the walkway.

**NINJA DRIVE!**

But we didn't get the satisfaction of hearing her hit the ground. Instead, she leapt out in a blur and struck us from all sides.

**ILLUSION DRIVE!**

Then she was suddenly everywhere at once, confusing us with copies upon copies of herself. They all floated around us and taunted us, daring us to attack them. Neither of us bothered; we knew they were all fake.

**CRUSADE DRIVE!**

But several of those fakes suddenly became very real. In a flash, the copies leapt down upon us and started knocking us around like pinballs. Arata thought fast and let himself fall to the ground, prompting all of the copies to converge on him. That let me single out and close in on the real Mira.

**GHOST DRIVE!**

But when I swiped at her, my sword phased right _through _her. By the time I realized it wasn't because I'd cleaved her in half, she punished me with an onslaught. Arata managed to bail me out by jumping in when she least expected it, and that reminded me of the fact that Mira _herself _had told me of this power's weakness. So we struck only when _she _made a move and made her phasing powers effectively useless.

**DRAGON DRIVE!**

That forced her to change tactics _again_, but with how far gone her mind was at this point, she didn't realize that she'd switched to a power she'd _also _exposed the weakness to. With our swords bouncing off of her armor, we coordinated each other to strike at her exposed parts; her joints, shoulders and stomach.

**TIME DRIVE!**

But suddenly, neither of us could move a muscle. Mira laughed like a deranged maniac as she hacked at our frozen selves with reckless abandon. Now we were _really _in trouble. We both knew this power's weakness as well, but it wasn't one that we could easily exploit. The only way to escape her time freeze was to get out of its range, and we couldn't exactly do that frozen in place.

Luckily for us, Mira wasn't thinking her actions through. With how wildly and savagely she was swinging her saber, she ended up knocking Arata's sword out of of her "time zone." After she swat Arata out of the air, his sword bounced off the wall and back at her head. Once she lost focus, the time freeze was released, and Arata and I were freed. With Arata barreling towards us and Mira seconds away from reactivating the time freeze, I knew I had to act fast. So I hurled my sword in the air before hurling myself onto my back and kicking Arata up after it.

With Arata out of her time zone when it activated, he was able to catch my sword and carve into her right down the middle.

**FREEZE DRIVE!**

She became nothing but a screaming child at that point as she screamed out in pain and fury, blindly swinging around and hurling waves of ice everywhere. "Erika!" Arata shouted, "We should strike now before-" He stopped as his legs suddenly gave out. My heart dropped faster than the rest of myself as I knelt to help him up.

"Arata are you-"

"Now! Before we lose this chance!"

"But-"

"**ERIKA!**"

Even through his mask, I could see the pure determination and resolve in his eyes. Regardless of whether it endangered him or not, he was going to see this through to the end. And hell if I was gonna get in the way of that. After ducking beneath another stray ice wave, we got up, shared one last look, and drove our Memories into our belts.

**MAXIMUM DRIVE!**

Both of us screamed at the top of our lungs as we raced towards the deranged maniac with everything we had. With another rogue wave coming at us, the two of us leapt into the air side by side, yet still as one. Then all together, with every ounce of our power surging into our feet, we roared with all of our might, "**DOUBLE! RIDER! KICK!**"

Our feet crashed into Mira's chest before unleashing our combined strength all onto her. As tough as she'd been, she was simply no match for us, and so, we kicked her _right out _of her stupid "rider" form and reduced the Amnesia Memory to nothing but dust. After landing on the ground and seeing Mira collapse unconscious, I was almost overwhelmed with joy. "We DID IT!" I cried, "We actually DID IT! Arata why aren't you-"

The second I turned around, all of that joy and relief left my body at once. Arata wasn't up on his feet anymore. He wasn't _moving _anymore. The mere concept of joy left my mind entirely, its absence filled by sheer horror. With my heart racing, I rushed over to his side and tore his Driver off of him. Once his armor faded and I could see that he was still breathing, I took off my own Driver and held him in my arms.

"A-Arata?" I could barely get his name out with my throat closing up on me, "Arata wake up… W-we did it!" My heart ached as I his eyes fluttered open to reveal an unnatural grayness to them. He drew in a slow, shallow breath as he reached out to me.

"Whhh…" his voice was barely even a whisper; I had to lean in closer just to hear him, "we really...did it? We...whh...we beat her?" I opened my mouth to respond, only to end up choking down a sob. Before I could stop them, tears began to flood out of my eyes. My paw was trembling as I took Arata's and pressed it against my cheek.

"Yeah, buddy… We did it… We won…" I felt my heart shatter to pieces as a weak smile crept up his muzzle.

"Good… I'm...I'm glad…" I choked down more sobs and squeezed his paw tighter. Even as he looked at me dead in the eyes, I had the feeling that he couldn't actually _see _me anymore. Despite that, his smile remained, and it only made my heart ache that much more. "Erika...not to sound...cl...cliche...but...i'm...really happy that...you're here...with me."

That...broke me… Unable to hold back for any longer, I broke down into uncontrollable sobs. "You...goddamn idiot…" I said through grit teeth, "Why did...why did you have to go and say that?" I heard him let out a faint chuckle, and that just made me break down even further.

"Erika...I'm...sorry for-"

"NO. DON'T...don't you **dare **apologize now. So just…...just get up so we can...so we can get back to base. You can ap-apologize to me _there_."

"I...can't…"

"Arata…"

"I'm sorry…"

"_Arata_…" There was no point in keeping my eyes open anymore; all of the tears that were flooding in them were blinding me.

"Erika...I need to ask you something…" I tightened my grip on his paw as I waited, "Since I...can't...anymore...please...continue to protect this city...for the both of us…"

I nodded furiously. "I _will, _Arata...I will…"

"Good… Looks like...I can…...relax…...now…"

And that was the last time…...I'd ever his voice...come from his mouth…...ever again…...


	3. Part 3: Chosen Journey

"…I…I'm so sorry about this, Doctor."

Dr. Aurora shook her head, "No, please. By all means, you need this." The collie had on a patient smile as she waited for the last of Erika's sobs to peter out. The girl shook her head.

"N-no, this is…this is unorthodox, I'm sorry—"

"Erika, come on. She already said it's fine."

"No. No, this was meant for me specifically. I shouldn't be dragging you into this—" She stopped as she felt her paw be squeezed by another. Even so, she refused to look in the other direction.

"Erika, it's okay. I'm willing to stay here for a little bit longer, if not the entire session…"

"…Thank you…"

"Any time." A comforting squeeze of her paw followed that. Slowly, Erika drew in a breath and eased it out.

"…Okay, only for a little bit. I don't want to keep you up for too much longer."

"_Atta girl_."

"But the _second I say so_, you're going back to bed. Got it?"

"What are you, my mom?"

"_Arata_."

A defeated, yet playful sigh came out. "_Alright_. Alright. I'll leave when it's time."

"Good boy."

"I don't know why you've gotta ask me anyways," Arata reached down to the belt around Erika's waist, "You can send me back literally whenever you want."

Erika shook her head and nudged Arata's paw off of the device. "Well I feel better when it's _your choice, _not mine."

"Awww, you _do _care."

"Oh _shut up_." Erika shoved Arata's shoulder, eliciting an amused chuckle from him. All the while, Dr. Aurora watched with a mixture of awe and amusement. It was still hard for her to fully understand. Sitting before her was not only Erika, but also Arata. They weren't sitting next to each other. In fact, that seemed to be _impossible _for them now. The two of them were sitting together, as one, _in _one body.

The segmented, armored, asymmetrically colored body of Kamen Rider 00.

Needless to say, this was…not how she'd expected the respected hero of the city to work. When she'd been told that Erika and Arata still fought together, she hadn't realized that it wasn't just in spirit, in memory, or any other sort of metaphor. They were together in possibly the most literal sense of the word. Though it was unclear what degree of control Arata had over Erika's body as a whole, it was abundantly clear that he had control over her green, right side. The way that he moved her arm, and the way her right eye glowed with each syllable he muttered were good indications of that.

"…Seriously though," Erika went on, "I don't want it to seem like...like I'm forcing you out."

"It's alright, Erika. I get it, and I appreciate it a lot." Arata reached out and gently clasped her paw in his. Or…hers. However it was that worked. When the snow leopard didn't reply, Arata tilted their head slightly. "Hey, you getting all emotional over that?"

"Shut up."

That got a soft chuckle out of Arata. "Aw come on, no need to be like that. Here." He then reached back and grabbed the scarf pinned to the back of their neck, pulling it over their shoulder and offering it to her. "You can wipe your tears with this."

When Erika looked over to see, she chuffed and shoved it away. "Oh my god, stop." That got him laughing a little bit harder. With a playful shrug, he tossed the scarf back over their shoulder and clasped their paws together.

"I'm glad to see you two are having fun," Dr. Aurora chuckled.

"For the record," Erika began, pointing a finger at her green side, "he's not normally like this. He's just enjoying his time with being the wittier side for once."

"Hey, I have my moments."

"_Like_?"

Their right eye remained dark for a good bit. "…Okay I can't _think _of any right now, but—" Erika playfully jabbed a finger against his shoulder, eliciting laughs from both of them.

"Pardon my asking," said Dr. Aurora, "but what is it like to be…uh…" The collie motioned her paws in their general area, "that?"

"A friggin nightmare is what it's like," said Erika.

"Oh come on now, you don't mean that."

"I _do_."

"You doooooooooon't," this time it was Arata who jabbed a finger into the other side's shoulder, "I can hear all of your thoughts, you know that." Erika let out what seemed to be a defeated sigh. "Well Doctor, to put it simply, it feels like how you'd expect it to feel like if you were to share a body with someone. You can probably already tell, but I'm the one who mainly controls her right arm."

"And I keep control of everything else. _Thankfully_."

"Yeah, I can't imagine how difficult this would be if I had to coordinate _walking _with her. Being caught in a firefight with black-market criminals isn't exactly the best place to be having a three-legged race after all."

"And like he said earlier, we share the same headspace. So just like I can hear all of _his _thoughts, he can hear all of _mine_."

"We…learned that out the hard way…"

A silence hung in the room. "We don't…need to talk about that part."

"R-right," Arata stammered, "so, basically she still has control over her whole body, especially when the two of us are in synch. The only time I ever really exert control over my side is either when it's absolutely necessary, it's something only I can do, or when I notice something that she doesn't."

"He doesn't have to do it a lot, but it's always reassuring to know he's got me covered when he _does_."

"Interesting," Dr. Aurora nodded, "So…when you two do this…what happens to Arata's body?" She regretted asking that as soon as the last syllable left her lips. The silence that hung in the air afterwards was tense enough to cut with a knife. The collie waved her paws and stammered, "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that. My curiosity got the better of me."

Arata held up his hand. "It's okay… We get it."

"It's not even a bad question," said Erika, "It's just…something we try not to think about."

"Yeah, I'm so sorry about that," Dr. Aurora adjusted her glasses and scooted up a bit in her seat, "Maybe it's best if we just move on."

"Y-yes of course," Arata nodded and clasped Erika's wrist, "I'll leave you to it then—"

"A…actually?" Erika turned to Arata's side, "is…is it alright if you…stay? For…for this last part?"

Arata turned back to Erika's side. "…Erika?"

"I just…" The snow leopard seemed to roll the words around in her mouth. "…Were going to be going over how we got to today, and…thinking about it now…there's…" Her voice trailed off from there. She shuffled around a bit until Arata reached over and gently squeezed Erika's upper arm. That seemed to be enough to help her regain her composure. "There's some parts of the story I'm not gonna be able to tell. So…it'd be helpful if…you know…"

"I know…" Arata gently pat her arm, "…I know…" The two of them seemed to share their own little moment as Erika drew in a deep breath and eased it out. "I'll cover the parts you weren't there to see. Just to make things easier for you. At least, as long as it's okay with _you_."

"It's a _little _unorthodox, I'll admit," she replied with a swish of her tail, "but for your sakes, I'm willing to make an exception."

"…thank you…" Erika's words only came out as a slight whisper. At that, the collie motioned for the pair to return to their previous positions. Only this time, it would be _two _furs sitting on the chaise lounge.

"So to briefly recap," said Dr. Aurora as everyone settled in, "We went over the events revolving around Amnesia and The Earth's Tree. How the whole thing was one big hoax, and how the two of you brought it all to an end."

"Well, we didn't _end _it, exactly," Arata chimed in, "but we did pull the curtains on it all."

"We went over Erika's thoughts on everything as they had been happening, and of course we went over how Arata hid his condition from you until the very end."

"…Yes…we did…" Erika seemed to cast a sideward glance in Arata's direction, who had quickly fallen silent.

"Now all that leaves us is how you got from there to here, and how this dynamic all got started." The doctor stopped to click her pen and adjust her clipboard. "So Erika, once Arata's condition was put to light, where did that leave you?"

"It left me _frustrated_, for one thing," she sighed, crossing her arms. Arata's eye remained dark as she went on, "It left me…confused…hurt…wounded… Like I…like I wasn't good enough to help…"

"…A-actually maybe it's better off if I just—"

"NO…no…" Erika shook her head, "I'm sorry, Arata. I just… I don't mean to be bitter."

"You're not, Erika. You're being honest." the collie pointed her pen at her, "You have feelings, _valid_ feelings, and you shouldn't feel as though they're not worth talking about. _Especially _during these sessions."

When Erika didn't answer, Arata reached out and gently clasped her paw in his. "If…if you really need to get something off your chest, I'm willing to listen."

Erika shook her head. "It can wait… For later."

Dr. Aurora decided not to press and moved on. "So what happened after Amnesia was exposed?" Erika was the one to answer this time.

"Well, even though we managed to tear it all down, Earth's Tree was still at large. We'd stopped the charade, but Memories were still being sold on the black market. That meant that the city was still in as much danger as it had been _before _the exposure. Now it just didn't have the smoke and mirrors. So just like I promised Arata when he…retired, I continued to act as the city's hero.

"I created another copy of the Freeze Memory and inherited the title of Kamen Rider Zero. And though many of Amnesia's Members had left after learning the truth, there were many others that wanted to make things right. So with them, a new Amnesia was formed, one with the goal that it was _meant _to have; protecting the city. So for three years, that's what we did. We fought back against The Earth's Tree with all of our might. We brought every Dopant attack to a screeching halt, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"At least…that's what we thought…"

**Kamen Rider 00**

**The **_**C**_**hosen **_**J**_**ourney**

**By DiscontentCat**

Eventually, the Headmaster of The Earth's Tree ran out of patience. We'd destroyed his façade, we were outmatching his "products," and we were bringing his sales to an all-time low. Obviously he wasn't going to just sit down and take this. Instead, he decided to get off his ass and finally confront us himself. But not without a bunch of his underlings, of course. To show how serious he was, he brought his nine strongest Dopants and let them loose in the city. We were forced to spread our forces thin, with every available member of Amnesia being sent to a different part of the city.

As proud as I am of our own strength, dealing with 9 Dopants at once was too much to ask of us. All of them were incredibly powerful and none of them were willing to go down easily. The fact that they were actually willing to hurt innocent furs as well didn't help. That meant no one could go and help out with someone else's fight, not until the fight they were _already _in was finished. Mine was no exception.

I was dealing with the Grief Dopant, and as the name implies, it has influence over stress levels. He must have been hand-picked for me, because his abilities worked on me like a _charm_. Not only was he amplifying the stress I was under with everyone else still needing backup, he was also amplifying my stress over Arata.

Every day, every time I'd open my eyes for the first time, and every time I'd get up out of bed, I'd be reminded of the fact that Arata…can't do that anymore. I'd remember that, in that same moment, he was still stuck in his hospital bed, completely still, and completely unresponsive. Right after, I'd go over to his room to see him, hoping that maybe…_just maybe_…this would be the day he'd be able to open his eyes and greet me…

That. Never. Happened.

For three whole years, I'd face heart-breaking disappointment. For three whole years, I never saw him look up at me and smile. For three whole years…I never…heard his voice…

This Dopant tore open that wound and poured as much salt on it as he could. He took my pain, sorrow and guilt and used it all against me as a weapon. "You should've done better. You should've been there for him. How could you let this happen?" All of my inner thoughts and voices screamed into my ear, taunting me, cursing me, and drowning out all other thoughts in my head. All to remind me that _I _was to blame.

"Oh you poor thing," Grief taunted as he lassoed his whip in the air, "Don't worry, just stay put, and I'll put you out of your misery." I barely even heard him; my mind was far too gone to allow me to listen clearly. At that point, I was basically a sitting duck. The Dopant probably would've made good on his word then and there…if I hadn't gotten help from the most unlikely of allies.

Just as Grief raised his whip to strike, a gunshot fired off and shot the whip right out of his hand. As he recoiled and stumbled back, he hissed, "WHO DID THAT?" His answer came in the form of several more gunshots, all directed at his face. They didn't stop until he was _far _away from me. But I didn't snap out of my trance until I felt a paw land on my shoulder.

"Hey, come on. Get up. I didn't come out of hiding just to watch you ball up and cry all day." Once I got up and came to my senses, I was surprised to see that it was Daiki, the Memory Salesman. "…What?" he said once he noticed my stunned silence.

"I just…I don't understand—"

"Don't get the wrong idea," he cut me off before drawing his second pistol and shooting at an incoming whip crack, "You let me escape several years ago, so I've come to return the favor." The blue pseudo-Rider motioned his head towards Grief. "I know Grief's weakness; all you have to do is stop fighting against the thoughts he's giving you."

"You mean…accept them?" Before he could answer me, he shoved me backwards and threw himself in the other direction. Grief's whip cracked sharply against the ground we'd just been standing in.

"Grief's tormenting you with the things that are troubling you the most! The thoughts that you fear! The feelings you're trying to deny!" he called, "If you stop denying the problems he's forcing you to face and just accept them, his powers will be completely useless against you!" Daiki unloaded a barrage of bullets onto Grief before barking, "And I suggest you do it SOON, otherwise you'll have _more _of your friends to grieve over!"

He jumped out of the way before Grief's whip could crack against his face. I…wasn't as lucky. I still had too much on my mind, so the Dopant got an easy hit on me. As soon as that whip made contact, all of my inner voices came back with a vengeance. They screamed at me so loudly that the world around me practically melted away. Though they went about it in different ways, all of them reminded me that everything happening to me, to this city, and to Arata was my fault… That was too big of a pill for me to just…swallow.

I didn't _want _to believe it, and like you've been saying, Doc; I _shouldn't _believe it. But at the time, all of the signs I'd seen were pointing to it. I was only there because I'd tried to become a Rider. The city was only in this tough spot because I'd messed with something I shouldn't have. And Arata was only stuck in his position because—

* * *

Erika.

* * *

…

* * *

Is that…really what you believe?

* * *

Arata, please just let me finish.

* * *

But you know that—

* * *

_Please_. This is important…

* * *

…Alright…I'm sorry…please go on.

* * *

Thank you… Anyways, like I was saying, it was getting harder and harder for me to deny what my voices were telling me. And I don't know whether it was a good thing or not…I decided to just…accept that guilt. I finally allowed myself to believe that, yes, everything _was _my fault. If it weren't for me, none of this would be happening. The Dopants would've continued to "advertise" themselves and not put civilians in harm's way, and Arata would've…

So I accepted that. _All _of that. And you know what? That made the pain…easier to bear. I didn't have to fight it anymore. I didn't have to _deny _it anymore. It just…became my truth. And because of that, I was freed from Grief's hold. Right away, I snapped out of the trance the Dopant had put me in.

It was just like Daiki had said; because I'd accepted my guilt as reality, all of Grief's attacks had no effect on me. Not even on a _physical _level. His whip barely even phased me, as the pain it was inflicting on me was next to _nothing _compared to what I'd just been put through. I made quick work of him after that, and before I could so much as _thank _Daiki, I realized he was long gone. I didn't have time to dwell on that, though. My entire team was still in need of backup. After I made sure Grief wasn't going anywhere, I ran out to help everyone else with _their_ fights.

Little did I know that the biggest fight of all had already begun…

* * *

And…I suppose this is where _I _come in. Unbeknownst to anyone out in the field, the Headmaster had ulterior motives in showing himself. With everyone so preoccupied, he was able to slip out of sight and force his way into our base using his Dopant form, Maul. His raw power and ferociousness made quick work of all our steel doors, one of the only forms of defense we had here without our troopers or Erika. Unfortunately for him, there was still one more left.

As he scanned the garage, he caught the sounds of footsteps and froze in place. With everyone else caught in their own fight, he didn't seem concerned that anyone of worth was coming to meet him. Boy was he about to be proven wrong. "You seem lost," I called to him, "You shouldn't be here, and you've got a lot of nerve if you think you're _welcome _here." I couldn't see his reaction, but judging by the silence that followed, I could tell that hearing my voice had caught him off guard. And how could I blame him I was supposed to be on my death bed, after all.

Once I stepped out into the open, donning Rider armor and a Driver, the Headmaster finally spoke up. "Arata Sakurai… And here I thought I'd never see the day that I'd meet you in person." I couldn't hold back a disgusted scoff.

"Believe me; I would've preferred that, but you've forced our hand. You don't belong in this city, not after what you did to it."

"You _still _think this is our fault?" the Dopant pointed one of his claws at me, "Need I remind you, it's _your _people who decide what to do with the Memories they buy."

"ENOUGH! I don't wanna hear ANY OF IT!"

"Why?" the Headmaster laughed at me, "Because you know it's the truth?"

I didn't want to admit it, but…he had a point. "…I don't know what your plan is in coming here, but I WON'T let you exploit the people of this city for your own personal gain!" I crouched down as I prepped myself for battle. "You may have gotten this far, but you're NOT getting any farther!"

He laughed at me and snarled, "Is that so?!" before leaping forward.

"COUNT ON IT!" I screamed back before the two of us crashed against each other. Once we started exchanging blows, I quickly realized how outmatched I was in terms of raw strength. I was forced to act more evasive as the fight went on. Despite this, my burning hatred for the man raged on. "You're the ONE person I'll never forgive! You people keep trying to bring this city to ruin!"

"Need I _remind _you that those 'people' are only doing their jobs?!" the Headmaster retorted, "And if any _people _are ruining the city, it would be _yours_, the ones you claim to protect!"

"Stop trying to flip this around!" I growled as I leapt out of the way of a viscous swing, "If your stupid business had never rolled around here, the city wouldn't be in _nearly _as bad of a shape as it is now!"

"Typical," he shook his head, ""A man shoots another man, and rather than blame the shooter, you blame the people who sold him the gun. For how _long _can you ignore the blood on your people's hands?! Wake up! YOUR people are at fault here! Not mine!"

"I…I…" I couldn't respond to that. Not just because I couldn't think of anything, but also because my body had suddenly started to fail on me. I lost all feeling on the left side of my body, causing me to collapse. I tried to rise, but my body just wouldn't listen to me. "No! N-not now!" Suddenly, the Headmaster closed the space between us and grabbed my shoulder. I think that's when he realized something was off, because he froze as soon as his hand clamped onto me. He narrowed his eyes at me before tossing me across the garage like a ragdoll, making me knock over several of the motorcycles that were still in the building. While I was still getting my bearings, he leapt onto me and planted his foot against my chest.

"You're not a man," he said as he grabbed hold of my bad arm, "What are you?" Without another word, he dug his teeth into my wrist and _tore _my arm off. Well, I guess calling it _my _arm wouldn't be entirely accurate. With it separated, the Headmaster was able to see the mechanical components making up the inside of my body. By then I'm sure he realized what was going on. He was right in assuming that I wouldn't be there to drive him out of our base, at least not in _person_. That's why I had to use a fake, robotic body, one that I was controlling with my consciousness. It was something a fellow Amnesia member had stumbled upon during Erika's years as Kamen Rider Zero. And though we'd tried it out a few times—

* * *

Without telling _me_, of course…

* * *

…Right, th-this was the first time we actually had to put it to good use. And…evidently, the last time as well. "Clever boy," he taunted after I'd freed myself, "So then, do you really think this little science project of yours can stop me?"

"Maybe not…" I replied, "but the _least _I can do is stall for time!" And that's really all I _could _do, because I'd been right. I _couldn't _stop him. Not only was I down an arm, but he was also way too strong for me to handle all on my own. He battered my pseudo-body around like it was his piñata, and I could do nothing to stop him. All I could do was struggle. During all of that, he revealed to me what he was actually after. Though he was still trying to strike fear into the heart of the city to incentivize buying his Memories, there was something more.

He was after the Amnesia Memory, the Memory that'd been draining and storing the abilities of all previous Memories. Apparently he hadn't gotten the memo that Erika and I had destroyed it in our last battle. But even after I'd told him that, he didn't believe me. He'd acknowledged the two of us as strong, but he didn't believe we'd been strong enough to defeat _the strongest _Gaia Memory in existence, let alone defeat someone wielding its power. Instead, he thought we were merely hiding it somewhere in our base, and he was intent on tearing our base apart brick by brick until he found what he was looking for.

* * *

That's about the time when Arata sent out an urgent message to the team. You can probably _imagine _how I felt, hearing his voice for the first time in several years. No one on the team dared to try and stop me once I ran from the fight I'd been helping in and _raced _back towards the base.

* * *

After practically tearing my body to shreds, I was thrown across the room. The garage had been reduced to a cluttered junkyard, with Memories, weapons and smashed bikes littering the crater-ridden floor. "So how much longer do you think you can keep this up, hmmm?" the Headmaster taunted, "Because I feel like you've wasted _enough _of my time already."

"J-just long enough, I'd say," I replied, my body's damaged speakers making my voice come out distorted and choppy. The Headmaster chuffed before yanking me up to my feet and eviscerating every part of it with his claws, sending metal bits flying everywhere. On the final strike, he rammed his fist against my left lens, cracking it as I was sent flying. After I slammed against the opposite wall and crumpled to the floor, I realized I had next to no control over my body left. The Headmaster _also _realized this.

"Hmph," he huffed, folding his arms and looking down upon my shattered remains, "Finally decided to give in—"

"ARATA!" Erika's voice roared along with the sounds of her motorcycle's engine. By the time the Headmaster turned, the vehicle crashed into him and blew him away. As he and the bike smashed against the other wall, Erika rushed to my side.

* * *

And as I rushed over, my heart was hammering in my chest. I'd heard his voice, yet I still couldn't believe it was true. I had to hear him with my own ears, and I couldn't do that if I let the Headmaster get his hands on him.

**CRUSADE!**

I quickly swapped forms and sent my two doppelgangers out to deal with the Headmaster as soon as I saw him get back up. Once I was sure that he was well occupied, I shot down to my knees to finally look at Arata. And seeing him so torn up and damaged…obviously didn't play well with my emotions. And neither did hearing his voice come out so distorted.

"H-hey there…Erika," I'd said to her, "…Long time, no see, huh?"

"You…asshole," I spat bitterly, "How long has _this _been a thing?!"

"A…month, maybe?" I let out a nervous laugh, "We…we didn't want to get your hopes up if this didn't work…"

"I…hate you…_so much _right now…" In reality, I couldn't have been happier to be hearing his voice again. By then, I just couldn't hold it in anymore. Just…_finally _being able to hear his voice again, piled onto the fact that I was still so frantic and confused…it just tore down the walls I'd built up. I just broke down into tears then and there.

And I couldn't blame her. If my body had working tear ducts at the time, they most certainly would've been put to use there. Even though she was in her Rider form, just being able to see her again, after years of accepting my fate… Yeah…just couldn't blame her.

Before I could say anything else to Arata, one of my doppelgangers went down. I snapped back up and replaced it with another. Before I could personally join the fray, Arata stopped me.

"W-wait!" I called to her, "There's no way you can beat him! He's too strong!"

"W-well what am I supposed to do?!" I shouted back, "I'm the only one here that can fight!"

"Not…necessarily…"

"And what's _that _supposed to mean? Are you expecting me to believe that you can still fight?!"

"Y-_yes_, but—"

"Arata LOOK at yourself! Sure you were able to fight before. But now you're all torn up, you're missing limbs…you can't even MOVE!"

"I know! But—"

"Just…STOP! Okay? You've…you've done enough. Just sit there and let me handle the rest—"

"No LISTEN!" The intensity of my voice seemed to be enough to convince her to do so. "This body of mine, this…puppet…it wasn't the end goal for me. It was a proof of concept."

"Proof of…concept?" I tried to figure out what that could possibly mean, but I couldn't for the _life _of me, "For _what_?!"

"We've been trying to see if it's possible for me to temporarily transfer my consciousness into a body other than my own. This robot body was our first step in achieving that."

Admittedly, the way he was talking was making me a little nervous. "…And…the second step?"

"The second step is where _you _come in." The sounds of the Headmaster's roars told me my time was running short. "Listen carefully. Here's what I need you to do. In a few seconds, the Memory in my Driver is going to disappear. Once it does, take my segment of it and attach it to the empty socket on _yours_." Then, summoning all of my mental strength, I willed my good arm to reach for my chest. There, the lens of my armor's chest orb lowered to reveal a sleek, black Memory. "Once you do, take the Memory powering this body and put it into my Driver segment. You'll know what to do from there."

This was a lot for me to take in, and this was coupled with the fact that I was _still _trying to cope with hearing him again. "H-how are you so sure that I'll know?"

"Just trust me on this," I assured her, "You'll know…" It was only after she gave a reluctant nod that I proceeded. I reached into my chest and pried the Memory out, and I instantly went dark.

And all that left was me. Just like he'd said, the Memory in his Driver suddenly disappeared. I carefully pried his Driver segment off and took the black Memory out of his hand. As I stood back up, I noticed a feeling of dread that I couldn't shake off. I had no idea what Arata was trying to do, and I didn't even know if it would work in the first place…

But he'd always been willing to put his life in my hands, so I was willing to put mine in his. So I turned to face the Headmaster, who was still fighting my doppelgangers. "Alright…" I sighed as I raised both devices, "let's do this…partner." I jammed Arata's Driver segment in, and my Driver closed up instantly. Suddenly both of my doppelgangers vanished into thin air, along with my Rider armor. I looked down to see that my Memory had been replaced with another; the one that had vanished as soon as Arata's body had shut down.

"Giving in, eh?" said the Headmaster, "Good girl. I'll make sure to end you QUICKLY!"

I felt blood drain from my face as the Dopant leapt into the air with his claws aimed right at me. But as scared and confused as I was, Arata had been right. I knew what to do. I felt something guide me. No…I felt _Arata _guide me. So as smoothly as though I'd been doing it for months on end, I slammed both Memories inside, split the Driver open, and cried out in a loud roar, "…**HENSHIN!**"

_**CYCLONE! ||| **__**JOKER!**_

A wild gust of wind suddenly picked up, catching the Headmaster mid-air and sweeping him off to the side. The Dopant crashed into the wall as the rogue cyclone raged on. There was so much dust and debris in the air that no one could see anything. Not until the wind parted with a _thunderous _clap. And with it gone, I…or rather, _we _were able to step forward, donning our color-divided armor with our silver scarf fluttering in the wind. For the first time, we'd stepped forward together. We'd stepped forward as the two-in-one Rider.

For the first time, we'd stepped forward as Kamen Rider 00.

"Alright, it worked! Great job, Erika! I knew you could do it!"

I did a double take as soon as I heard his voice. "A-Arata?! Is that you?! Are you in my head right now?!"

"Heh, I'd say a little more than that. But that's not important right now. What _is _important is that we've got the scum of this city to take care of…"

Confused but still in agreement, we made our way towards the Headmaster, just in time for him to stagger back up to his feet. "Using two Memories at once?" he questioned us, "What is this, some kind of desperation move? Run out of options?"

"Far from it!" I shouted back, feeling Erika's confidence resonate with my own, "If anything, I couldn't ask to be in a better position than this one!" Seeming to want to test my claim, the Headmaster leapt at us with his claws spread. Erika met him halfway by leaping into the air, boosted by a gust of wind. We reached him faster than he anticipated, and Erika landed a solid kick on him. As he crashed back down onto the ground, we gently floated back down, once again carried by the wind.

"How?!" he snarled as he clawed back up to his feet, "How are you so strong?! You two are nobodies! Fabrications we manufactured! Moments ago you two could do nothing to me, and now here you are, in this freakish amalgamation! HOW?!"

"Because you made the stupidest mistake anyone ever could make! You underestimated us" I shouted, feeling Arata's support as I went on, "You were right in thinking that we couldn't beat Amnesia on our own. As strong as we are individually, there was no way we could stack up against someone as powerful as that. But that's the thing; we _didn't _fight her on our own. We had help. _Each other's_ help! We used our combined power to defeat her! And now we're going to use that power to defeat you!"

"Headmaster of the Earth's Tree," I joined in after her, "you've terrorized the civilians of this city, exploited that fear and manipulated them for your own personal gain, and you've brought pain, misery and suffering to the lives of thousands upon thousands of people."

With our minds resonating as one, we looked the Headmaster dead in the eye, pointed directly at him, and shouted in unison, "Now…**count up your crimes!"**

"These crimes aren't yours to COUNT!" With a roar of fury and hatred, the Headmaster barreled forward. But he didn't scare us one bit. After three whole years, the two of us were finally back together as a team. So we were intent on making this the strongest comeback imaginable. We ran right up to him without any hesitation whatsoever. He tried to swing at us, but I knocked his arm off course before his claws could connect with us.

And I used that opportunity to catch his arm and yank him right into a knee to the gut. He tried again and again to land a hit on us, but we kept deflecting his blows away from us and using his momentum against him. Once he tried to sweep our legs, we flipped backwards and glided out of his reach. But the Headmaster used that opportunity to leap after us and swat us out of the air.

Both of us were stunned from the impact with the ground, but we rolled out of the way just before the Dopant could plunge his claws into our face. As we rolled to our knees, Arata tossed our scarf behind our neck. As the cloth obstructed the Headmaster's vision, we whirled around and CLOCKED the side of his head with my foot.

"Nice shot!" I shouted to Erika.

"Nice set up!" I shouted back. I cut our celebration short to limbo through another of the Headmaster's swings. I managed to tag his side right as I ran past him. He tagged us right back though with a back kick to our side. The second we turned around, we took a clawing to the face, and the Headmaster took a _fist _to the face. The Headmaster tried to attack us while we were staggered, but luckily Arata had our back.

I held him at bay with a wind gust while Erika took the time she needed to recover. And with how much I was struggling to hold him off, I knew we didn't have much time to spare.

Thankfully I didn't _need _that much time. Just before Arata's wind ran out of steam, I got back up and _plowed _my foot into the Headmaster's gut. The Dopant flew across the garage and slammed into the opposite wall. "Alright," I said to Arata, "it's about time for us to finish him off."

"Good," I replied, "cuz I've got the perfect name for our finisher."

"How do you _already _have a name for it?"

"Hey I've had _weeks _to work it out, okay?"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. He really was an idiot…but he was _my _idiot… Just as the Headmaster shot out of the crater he'd left behind and leapt at us, I grabbed my side's Memory and tossed it to Arata.

And in one smooth motion, I caught it and tossed it into the Maximum Slot.

_**JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE!**_

Just before he could reach us, another wild gust of wind picked up and blew him back down. And as he went _down_, we went _up_. The wind carried us up and up, tossing our scarf around as raw energy coursed through our body and poured into our feet. The winds howled louder and louder until Arata triggered the Maximum, and the two of us roared out, "**JOKER EXTREME!**"

Our body split right down the middle as we rocketed downwards and drove our feet into, and eventually _through _the Headmaster's Dopant body. It, along with his Memory, was utterly obliterated, and we left behind nothing but smoke and an unconscious scum bag as our halves united back into one unified whole…one dynamic duo…and one trusted guardian of the city…

The two-in-one hero, Kamen Rider 00.

* * *

"With the head of The Earth's Tree finally behind bars, the whole company began to crumble in on itself. It'd lost its strongest members, and it was only a matter of time before it fell. Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped competitors from trying to take their place. Hence why we're _still _needed."

"Still though," Arata spoke up, "we'd landed a hefty blow on the black market that day, so it was most certainly a win for us."

"The first of _many_, too."

A chuckle escaped from Arata. "Just gonna pat ourselves on the back like that out of nowhere, huh?"

"Hey, we've been at this for almost four years now; I think we're _allowed _to do that at this point."

"Four years…" Arata tilted their head back, "Man, time really does fly, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but that's usually if you're _enjoying _it," Erika nudged Arata's side, eliciting another laugh from him.

"I suppose you're right, Erika… I suppose you're right…"

"You two…" Dr. Aurora spoke up, snapping the pair's attention back to her, "you two really are something, you know? After _everything _you two have been through, you continue to converse as if it's just another day of the week."

"Wow, _rude_."

"Oh come on, Erika. She didn't mean it like _that_."

"_I know, I know_," she laughed, shoving away Arata's paw as he tried to poke her. The sight put a genuine smile on the psychiatrist's muzzle.

"That being said, though," she continued, "having learned about everything that's happened to you two, I just want you both to know that _no one _is at fault for any of the things that transpired. The two of you have been caught in situations beyond your control, and neither of you deserve to take the blame for any of it." Erika jolted slightly as Arata gently clasped her paw in his. The two remained silent as Dr. Aurora went on. "I know me simply telling you that won't be enough to dissuade either of you from still blaming yourselves, but just know that you're _allowed _to take the blame off of yourselves, at least for this.

"It's more than obvious to me that the two of you are very close. As close as can _be_, in fact. So _remember that _whenever these feelings of guilt spark up. _Talk _to each other. Don't just bottle up these feelings until you can't handle them anymore."

"You hear that, _Arata_?"

"That includes you as well, Erika."

Erika did a double take and looked right at the collie. "…Wha—"

"It's a very good thing that you decided to come and talk to me, but judging by your actions and Arata's behavior, it's clear to me that you weren't quite willing to share your feelings either. Arata, am I correct in this judgement?"

Arata's eye remained dark for a solid minute. "…I…hadn't heard…_all _of that, no…" The pair fell silent soon after.

"I don't mean for this to sound like I'm scolding you. I _really don't_. I just want you to know that communication is _very important_, and that it goes _both ways_. Look…you two have been granted this…_miraculous _opportunity. A second chance, if you will. So I think it stands to reason that a chance like this _shouldn't _be taken for granted. Be willing to work at your issues rather than shovel them away for another time. Furthermore, be willing to work at those issues _with _the ones you love. You're a strong-willed girl, Erika. You've done a lot on your own, but just like your stories have told me, you can do even greater things _together_."

Erika's throat tightened up, but as she felt the comforting squeeze of Arata's paw, her throat began to loosen. She eventually pulled her paw away, only to take his and clasp them together tightly. This was another sight that made Dr. Aurora smile. "Well then," she continued, "since we've done so well with the two of you thus far, what's say we change this session from a solo to a duo—" She was unable to finish her request as a loud, wailing siren reached their ears. Erika shot right up to her feet as soon as she heard it, instantly recognizing the city's signal of a Dopant attack.

"Of all the…" she growled before looking out the window.

"Hey, at least we're already in our work clothes," said Arata.

"Yeah, it's just…" their head slowly lowered as Erika's voice trailed off. As the silence hung, Dr. Aurora felt the need to speak up.

"Erika?" she called, getting her attention, "It's okay. I'm still going to be here. If need be, we can always schedule future appointments. This isn't just a one-time deal, after all."

Erika took a bit of time to find her voice again. "Th…thank you… Thank you so much, Doctor."

"Don't mention it. It's my job after all. Now go on; the city needs you."

Erika nodded before giving her a quick and respective bow. Just as she was about to leave, Arata spoke up. "W-wait a sec. Y'think we can jump out the window this time?"

"_Really_?"

"_Pleeeeeeaaase_? Just _real quick. _We rarely ever get to do dramatic exits like this, and we're in the perfect spot to do it!"

"Ugh, you're insufferable sometimes, you know that?" She shook her head before turning around and unlatching the window's lock. After she slid it open, she turned back to Dr. Aurora and said, "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to lock this back up on our way out. Once you do, follow lockdown protocol and stay safe."

"Of course," the doctor nodded, unable to shake the little goosebumps creeping up her neck. With that, Erika shot her a finger-gun and whirled around, causing their scarf to drift along behind them. She then motioned for her to step aside and clear the way as she backed up.

"Don't let us just _fall_, okay Arata?"

"We have wind powers; we'll be fine." With a shake of their head, Erika leaned forward and took off running, crossing their arms in front of them before leaping through the window with ease. Once they cleared it, she tossed their arms out, and a strong gust of wind caught them. They rolled smoothly onto the street and shot forward as soon as their feet were back on solid ground. "The city never sleeps on us, does it?"

"Yeah, well fortunately, we never sleep on what _threatens _it!" With a grunt, she leapt into the air and allowed another gust of wind to carry them onwards. "Now let's give these guys a proper wake up call, partner!"

END


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